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Art, Music & Culture

During the Six Day War between Israel and the Arab States, the American intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked for 75 minutes in international waters by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats. Thirty-four men died and 172 were wounded. The most recent documentary, a 2001 production from the British Broadcasting Corporation is USS Liberty: Dead in the Water, is now on sale in North America. EI’s Nigel Parry offers more information. Read more about "USS Liberty: Dead in the Water" now available in VHS and DVD

This exhibition will bring together the work of eight artists from Palestine, Ireland and the United States. The exhibition will explore the impact and effects of military occupation, faltering attempts at settlement, and the importance of history and memory in both regions, drawing comparisons and parallels where necessary. At Gallery 400, 400 North Peoria Street, Chicago, November 19-30 Read more about Chicago: Palestine-Ireland Art Exhibit Opens

Many think of suicide bombers as insane, or motivated by pure religious fervor. The reality may not be quite so simple. Theatre group “De Queeste” tries to explain in its latest performance “Shock”. EI’s Arjan El Fassed visited this theatre play on November 16 in the Netherlands. Read more about Shock: the mind of a suicide bomber

A little more than a year ago, Brooklyn-reared Palestinian American Suheir Hammad was just an obscure writer and occasional college student putting in work on the New York poetry circuit and taking to the streets for a variety of political causes. Then terrorists attacked her city. The 28-year-old responded the only way she knew how: She jotted down a poem, “First Writing Since.” Amid the ocean of print inspired by That Day, perhaps no other collection of words has so succinctly articulated the strange confluence of being both Muslim and American in that moment in history. Natalie Hopkinson writes in the Washington Post.Read more about Out of the Ashes, Drops of Meaning: The Poetic Success of Suheir Hammad

Najeeb Shaheen in NY, September 2002. Photo by Nigel Parry.
Najeeb Shaheen builds, repairs and plays the oud in two bands. Shaheen’s father was a professor of music and a master oud player, and his grandfather was a musician and a church cantor. His brother, Simon Shaheen, is known as one of the oud’s most accomplished adherents, and played on Sting’s song ‘Desert Rose’.
Najeeb learned his craftsman’s skills from a one-time Israeli citizen who now builds violins for a living in Manhattan. “Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. Most often we disagree,” said Segal. “But we are like brothers, bonded by music, and so it has become a joke as well. If I tell him to move from one seat to another, he will turn to me and say, ‘What? You stole my land and now you want my chair as well?’ ” Ayaz Nanji profiles Najeeb in Newsday.Read more about Just Call Him the 'Oud' Man of Music